Caretaker prime minister Najib Abdul Razak cannot remain silent with regard to former minister Rafidah Aziz's open letter to him on the alleged privatisation of over 40,000 hectares of prime military land to a three-person firm, said Lim Kit Siang.

“Reminder to Najib: 'Unearthly silence' is no option,” said the DAP veteran in a statement this afternoon.

Lim said Rafidah is spot on that it is not just her, but 15 million voters and 31 million Malaysians also want to hear from the caretaker prime minister.

He also claimed that caretaker defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein's media conference on the matter in which the latter accused Rafidah of telling lies, had avoided whether Najib, who was then defence minister, presented a cabinet paper in 2007 seeking approval for the privatisation of the land to the abovementioned firm.

“Hishammuddin's media conference statement only whetted the appetite of Malaysians to know the truth about the proposed privatisation,” he added.

Lim also agreed with Rafidah that the Ministry of Defence (Mindef) has no locus standi to reply on behalf of Najib.

“I wish to remind Najib what I said on Monday – that 'unearthly silence' is no option for him nor is getting others to reply for him, whether Hishammuddin or Mindef.

“Let Najib answer directly and specifically to Rafidah or Malaysians can only conclude that what Rafidah revealed represented the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth,” he said.

Earlier, Rafidah had reiterated her challenge to reveal the cabinet paper on this matter. 

She was responding to a statement issued by Mindef's corporate communications unit yesterday, which explained that the ministry implemented development projects via various means, including privatisation, through a land swap. 

However, Rafidah said the more important issue that needs to be verified is whether Najib himself had tabled a cabinet paper in 2007 to privatise all land under Mindef to the three-person company.

“Where is this cabinet paper which had approved this privatisation?

“Please show the cabinet paper so the rakyat can see clearly. The cabinet paper is the proof.

“As long as the cabinet paper is not revealed, all the arguments in Mindef’s statement are merely the administration's explanations,” she added.